NASCAR centerpiece: Lessons from Loudon

Five things learned from the first week of the Chase for the Sprint Cup.

Speedway Illustrated

Five things learned from the first week of the Chase for the Sprint Cup.

Mark Martin is hungry

Two things you often hear about this 50-year-old wonder: 1) he is perhaps the best Cup driver never to have won a championship, and 2) he is perhaps the cleanest driver in the sport. In fact, some have suggested that No. 1 is a direct result of No. 2. But in the waning laps at New Hampshire, Martin showed he isn’t above a little gamesmanship in pursuit of that elusive title. Heading into turn one, he deliberately bogged his car down to force Juan Pablo Montoya, who was second at the time, to lose his momentum. Afterward, Martin said that had he not made that move, “I would have slid to the top, lost the race, and I would have had to admit to the world that I blew it.”

Juan Pablo Montoya is for real

There are a lot of reasons to overlook Montoya as a Chase contender. The Earnhardt-Ganassi driver, a native of Colombia, is in just his third season of stock car competition. He’s never contended for a NASCAR title before. He’s winless in 2009. He’s never won at any of the 10 Chase tracks. But in his very first Chase race, he won the pole with a track record; led the most laps; maintained his composure after Mark Martin slammed the door on him (see above) and salvaged a third-place finish that vaulted him from 11th in points to fourth. After initially expressing disappointment with Martin, Montoya later admitted he would have done the same thing. “You’ve got to learn from it,” he said. “I haven’t fought for enough wins.” Then he delivered a vow that made him sound more like a native of the American South than of South America: “We ain’t leaving anything on the table, I’ll tell you that.”

Jimmie Johnson is lurking

Johnson hasn’t started any of his three consecutive championship runs with a win at New Hampshire. In fact, he started the first one by finishing 39th. So a relatively routine (for him) fourth-place finish in which he picked up 5 bonus points by leading 14 laps could signal the march to an unprecedented fourth straight title.

RPM is sputtering

A team that started the year in chaos after a merger appears to be ending it the same way. Kasey Kahne must now deal not only with the pressure of the Chase, but also with the distractions created by the news that his organization will join forces with Yates Racing in 2010 and switch from Dodge to Ford. That news, combined with the departure of vice president Mark McArdle, leaves the team in flux at the worst possible time. A good run at New Hampshire could have cured a lot of ills; instead Kahne finished 38th with a blown engine. Finally, on the last lap, RPM driver A.J. Allmendinger spun out, forcing NASCAR to throw a caution flag that froze the field and cut short a thrilling sprint to the finish.

The regular season points lead means nothing

Before the Chase opener, Tony Stewart, who led the points after the first 26 races, said he thought the accomplishment was worth a million-dollar bonus – “and not just because it’s us.” Stewart’s point is valid. A monetary reward would retain its value; points are a devalued currency. Stewart, who led Mark Martin by 568 points heading into the regular-season finale at Richmond, now finds himself trailing Martin by 74 points after finishing 14th at New Hampshire.

NEXT RACE AAA 400, Dover International Speedway
THE LOWDOWN The Chase moves from the Magic Mile to the Monster Mile. Other than their similar lengths, these two tracks have little in common. New Hampshire is relatively flat, narrow asphalt; Dover is high-banked concrete that produces speeds about 30 miles an hour faster. The racing should be ultra-competitive – Carl Edwards has the highest average finish (7.6), followed by Ryan Newman, Jimmie Johnson, Greg Biffle, Tony Stewart, Jeff Gordon and Mark Martin. Those seven comprise the Hendrick, Stewart-Haas and Roush-Fenway entries in the Chase.

“I didn’t expect to win this race.”
–Mark Martin, after his first career victory at New Hampshire

Where to Watch

Sunday’s pre-race show on ABC starts at 1:00 p.m. EST, followed by the race at 2:00.

Driver Profile: Denny Hamlin

WHY HE MATTERS: Second at Loudon makes him a trendy title pick
WHAT HE SAYS: “To come out second when I should have been about fifth, I was pretty proud of that.”
WHAT THE NUMBERS SAY: Needs to survive Dover (average finish: 25.6)

UP TO SPEED

Aces of the Chase

Since NASCAR instituted the Chase in 2004, 22 drivers have qualified for at least one NASCAR playoff. Of those, three-time, defending champion Jimmie Johnson has the highest average finish, 8.61 (see chart). No surprise there. But it might surprise you to learn that Greg Biffle is second. (First-time qualifiers Juan Pablo Montoya and Brian Vickers, who have each run just one Chase race so far, are not included.)

Infighting

It’s not often that you see a team owner upset with a driver who brings home a hard-fought second-place finish that pads his points lead. But that was the case in the Heluva Good! 200 Camping World truck race at New Hampshire. Kevin Harvick was running third and felt he had a truck capable of winning, but he couldn’t get by Kevin Harvick Incorporated driver Ron Hornaday to challenge eventual winner Kyle Busch. Said Harvick, “I felt like one of [our] two trucks should have won the race.”

Best in Class

It came a year too late. In 2008 Kyle Busch finished 34th at New Hampshire to send his Chase run into a downward spiral after a magnificent regular season. On Sunday Busch finished fifth, the only non-Chase driver to crack the top five. Meanwhile, Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s miserable season continued. He finished 35th after a run-in with David Reutimann.